Missing Owego Man Reported Safe Following Search

A Tioga County resident who had been reported missing was located at a friend's house following an extensive search operation.

Authorities say 21-year-old Billy James Zavatto-Bado was found around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, about 24 hours after he left his home on Ford Road in the town of Owego.

According to the Tioga County Sheriff's Office, Zavatto-Bado was unharmed but he was to be evaluated.

The man's mother had expressed concern for his well-being in a Facebook post. She wrote that "it is life threatening for him to be without his seizure medicine."

Sheriff's deputies and state troopers were involved in the search for Zavatto-Bado. Search and rescue team members from Tioga and Broome counties also fanned out around the Campville section of the town of Owego.

The coordinators of the operation had been planning to resume the search Friday morning if the man had not been located.